Great book! I descovered the Food Lover’s Companion at my neighbors home in her expansive library. It was the smaller older edition but it was wonderful. I would sit there in my free time reading it page by page as if it were a novel and I knew I had to get this book for myself (and a friend who is also crazy for cooking).So when I arrived home I went straight to Amazon and looked it up. To my pleasant surprise the Deluxe was available. I jumped at the chance and ordered one each for me and a friend. It is a hardcover with a sleek jacket, built in ribbon book mark, and gold edged pages. It was gorgeous! Inside is full of definitions, beautiful illustrations, and now in depth glossaries.I particularly love the Apple glossary. For anyone who loves food and the culinary arts this book is a MUST have for your library. So get it! Hahaha

Now I bought this book just for the novelty of it. I mean a cookbook dedicated to being hungover definitely needed to have a place in my library. However I was also prepared for this book to be a complete waste of my money. From what I knew there had never been a book like this so I had no idea what to expect. When the book arrives I am super surprised at just how great it is. Between the setup, illustrations, visual tests (yes I said visual tests), and recipes this has become one of my favorite books.

What makes this book so great? Well I’ll tell you:

The Six Types of Hangovers

The author uses the book The Mating Season by P.G. Wodehouse as a hangover guideline. It determines that there are six types of hangovers from the mild to the most debilitating. They are the Broken Compass, the Sewing Machine, the Comet, the Atomic, the Cement Mixer, and the Gremlin Boogie. Each are given their own time to shine when they are described in detail in the recipes section.

Getting your diagnosis

So how exactly do you determine what hangover you have? You take a questionnaire and visual test of course! Ugghhh! I know it might sound ridiculous but really it is actually a lot of fun. You will encounter an elephant with what seems to have five legs, a messed up cube, and dots lots of dots. Then you will get a questionnaire about how you feel physically. So where and how does it hurt you? (Groan) At the end of these tests you should be able to determine what type of hangover is plaguing you. This came in handy New Year’s Day when I woke up with what I determined to be the Comet 😉 Oh goody!

The Recipes

You will start off with the hangover first. Following the hangover and its particular description (and cute illustration) you will find the perfect remedies to cure your sickness. Each recipe is also rated on a scale from easy to never going to happen. This definitely comes in handy when your judgment is well a little less than perfect. The only problem that I had with the recipes was that the ones for the Comet were not exciting enough for me. My Summer Berries Compote with Yogurt sounds horribly boring compared to the Atomic’s Spicy Sausage and Bean Casserole. It seemed like all of the best recipes were for the worst hangovers. I know I can just take a recipe from another chapter but I wanted to eat a meal prescribed for my particular hangover. Oh well I guess. (I don’t care I’m making a casserole!)

So over all, this book was really great. It was set up beautifully with funny illustrations and quotes. I liked the simplicity of the cover, the writing style of the author, and the surprise of just how good the book was. Other than that the recipes for my hangover were less than exciting, I have nothing negative to say about this book. If you want a clever, funny, unique cookbook pick up this little gem as soon as possible. You never know when you are going to need it. Cheers! —-CMY